Tianchi "Clarity" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter 2016
Tianchi "Clarity" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter 2016 Tianchi "Clarity" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter 2016 Tianchi "Clarity" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter 2016 Tianchi "Clarity" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter 2016
$ 82.00

Tianchi is one of the most popular names for Lishan jade oolong. The two characters stands for "sky pond," which adds a mystical feeling to the place, although one might be utterly disappointed when they visit the actual place finding the sky pond was nothing but merely a pond with some murky water in it. 

 

The reason for us to choose this tea as part of our winter 2016 collection is not because of its name, but because of its "ultra clear" body, and thanks to this "ultra clear" audiophile character, this tea carries an impression of crystal sugar in it - sweet but won't cloy. We think this is the best tea to represent this upcoming winter weather with your family!

 

 

Harvest:  Winter 2016 / 冬 貳零壹陸

Varietal:  Qing Xin Oolong / 青心烏龍

Elevation:  2550 M / 貳仟伍佰伍拾 公尺

Region:  Lishan Tianchi / 梨山天池

Oxidation Level:  25% / 分之 廿伍

Roast Level:  0 / 無

 

 

 High Mountain taste and aroma... some slight floral aroma, sweet and thick with a slight very pleasant vegetal green taste.  Very thick long lasting mouth feeling.  You can keep drinking the tea just by smacking your lips and moving your tongue in your mouth.  The high mountain sweetness that just stays in the mouth and throat long after drinking is totally unique ultra high elevation teas like this.  Classic Li Shan winter tea!

 

  With the name of 'Heaven's Pond 天池' or 'Clarity' this tea should grab your attention. It has an ethereal nature that is both inviting and elusive to me. I steeped it few different ways to experiment with some parameters. I found that 7-8 grams in 200ml gaiwan with relatively shorter steeps was quite lovely. The sugary-ness of the tea was highlighted with lower temps around 190-195F. However, like most serious gaoshancha you can pour boiling hot water on the leaves and they will still sing to you. This is an excellent tea that has a way of playing with you a bit. What a treat...

 

 An old dog so far has tried numerous jade oolong from high elevation. It must concludes that despite all of them are good enough, only a few can make its way to the holy temple of Taiwan Sourcing. This Tian Chi jade oolong is one of the teas that was chosen as the winter representative of this year. This tea, as said in the description, has a clean crystal sugar feeling to it. It also flew into an old dog's throat effortlessly, making a old dog very comfortable. In fact, too comfortable to be true!